As part of the second phase of the project, the School of Arts, English and Languages at Queen’s University Belfast is pleased to present “Languages Unlocked” - an outreach and engagement event for Year 13 students of Modern Languages. This event will be held virtually, via Microsoft Live Events, on Wednesday 10th February 2021, 4:30pm-6:30pm.

Languages Unlocked

This event will bring together four language areas (French, Irish, Portuguese and Spanish) with the aim of encouraging Year 13 (Year 12 in England) pupils to “rethink languages”. Challenging the idea that the benefits of language learning are limited solely to communication skills in the target language, these diverse sessions – covering topics from Parisian interiors, to Internet memes, to investigative linguistics – will highlight the vast array of doors that language learning can open, particularly in areas that are not often associated with school-level language study.

The event will open with a plenary session, giving an overview of the need for language learners in the current climate and offering personal testimonials on the variety of skills and personal attributes developed through the study of other languages and cultures. It will continue with two sets of parallel, language-specific sessions and close with a final plenary, which will allow pupils to draw together key ideas and concepts from the sessions they have attended. Some of the parallel sessions will require post-GCSE standard language skills, while others (marked *) will have no specific language requirement.